How to Choose the Best Compact Tractor for Small Farm Use

Buying a tractor for a farm, or an ATV and other equipment, is exciting, usually necessary, expensive, and not without risk. This post is for new farmers without much experience or knowledge and, while not a complete list of considerations, I hope the suggestions below will help you in your choices and approach to choosing the best tractor for small farm use.

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Choosing the Best Tractor for Small Farm Use

1. In general, more horsepower is better and safer &#; as is larger with a wider wheel base, depending on your application needs. My tractor is 46 horsepower. It didn&#;t take long for me to max out the lifting potential of my front-end loader, such as in lifting a large cultipacker. Second, it is not fun lifting stuff with your front-end loader and feeling your rear tires lift off the ground. With 46 horsepower, you will have more limitations compared to, say, 52 or 66 horsepower.
2. Take into account your storage capabilities. The average number of purchased implements for tractors is three &#; most commonly a rotary cutter (i.e. a bush hog), a box blade, and a tiller. We were very lucky in that the size of a metal shed we had erected was large enough to accommodate my R John Deere tractor with the bush hog behind it. However, the shed is too small for the next size up. That would have been good information to have had. Most other implements should be able to be safely stored outside your structure on pallets.
3. I recommend buying a new versus used tractor. New tractor value holds and used ones do not save you much money. New tractors also have better payment options.
4. Spend a lot of time early on learning how to safely use your PTO, mainly in attaching and detaching your bush hog. There are devices you can purchase (unique to each implement) to make this easier, and the same with all the shenanigans needed in attaching to your three-point harness. Most of my frustration with the tractor has been dealing with these issues &#; especially in cold weather.

Tractor Safety Considerations When Buying a New Tractor

There is plenty of good information out there on ATV, tractor, and lawn mower safety. Remember, safety is always number one. It can sound easy, but time is time, and sometimes we don&#;t think about safety fast enough. I would like to focus on two issues that apply to a broad spectrum of applications:

Know The Terrain and Equipment

Both are vital to your safety. Let&#;s say you buy or lease a farm and there is a field thick with thorns you want to bush hog in the month of July. Do you want to walk through all of it to check for objects or holes? Well not hardly, but walk it you must. Here are some examples of what got me into trouble.

Tractor Rolling Over

When we first took possession of the farm, it had been heavily logged. There was a lot of undergrowth to put it mildly. The weeds and grass were very tall, and I could not see much of the ground. I was traveling alone slowly in my side by side down my steep, old logging road complete with periodic berms. I was aware that a couple of them were higher than my clearance. For one of these, I went to the left of it and quickly returned to the road. I had no problems and went about my business.

On the return uphill (moving slowly in four-wheel drive) I was careful to retrace my previous route by taking a right around that same berm. But my lack of knowledge led to a big problem: The obscured hole created by how they made the berm led to a sideways roll when I tightly returned to the road. I was sure it was going to turn over on its side.

I didn&#;t think about it rolling down the hill or the fact that I had no cellphone service and my wife only knew I was at the farm. It was terrifying for about a second. And then somehow, I got it back on all four wheels and all was well. I then went back to the site and did what I should have done beforehand: I walked and checked it out.

I am not sure where I thought they found the dirt to make those berms! I learned a lot that day, including that you can&#;t take for granted that all four wheels will always stay on the ground. But I have learned, and I am perhaps a bit too nervous now with my ATV or tractor when not on level and dry ground. Also, never underestimate the danger of soft, wet ground with any machine.

Getting a Tractor Stuck

Being a good neighbor is of utmost importance out in the country. And being just that led to a potential problem. I had agreed to bush hog my neighbor&#;s front yard, which I was glad to do. It was indeed way too tall for his standard mower. And I also made an assumption and again I did not walk it. It turned out that there was a small, dry creek bed that I was crossing without problems until guess what? It got deeper and I got stuck with one rear wheel off the ground.

This was no major problem; it was just a question of how much time this was going to take. Then I remembered the small pedal behind by right foot &#; the differential lock that shifts all the energy to the dependent wheel and viola, that took care of it. Again, know your equipment. This worked great and saved the day.

Caution with Zero-Turn Mowers

Now, the tractor and side by side have good traction. This is not the case with a zero-turn mower. If the wheels did provide great traction, they would tear up your yard (a top customer complaint either way). The problem is that I did not realize that.

Early one morning, I was cutting my grass near an embankment pushing my luck on some wet grass and down it I went &#; there was no way I could stop it. So now I avoid that embankment like the plague and I also wait until the grass is dry.

Consider How You Will Use Your Machines

I would like to close with this last bit of advice:  always think of how to use your machines rather than your back. It does take some thought, but it can save you a lot of pain and potential injury.

One day, I was trying to manually move an old camper cover that was imbedded in the dirt until I decided that I needed a crowbar. I then thought why stop there? I got the tractor out and used the front-end loader and moved the item to a trash pile like it was a potato chip.

I hope this will help you get started. I am always amazed at how much fun and how satisfying all of this work is around the farm when you have the right compact tractor for a small farm.

Bradley Rankin farms several of the 48 acres at Bobcat Ridge Habitat Farm in rural Kentucky, where he and his wife also manage a woodlot to attract wildlife. When he is not tending woodlands and pasture, Bradley enjoys raised-bed gardening, rock collecting, tree identification, and astronomy.

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So you did it.

You found the piece of property you can start building your dreams on. You may have been waiting for this moment for a long time.

But what now? How will you manage your land?

I was there not that long ago.

We were so caught up in the idea of having land of our own that we didn&#;t stop to think about how we would manage it. We didn&#;t have a plan. And we quickly realized that we were in over our heads when things started adding up.

We needed to invest in the proper tools to take care of our property. And we needed a plan.

• Our field 2 months after purchase
• Weeds easily as tall as the tractor cab

You may be wondering if you really need to buy a tractor. I understand why this question would come up. I thought the same thing. Tractors are expensive to buy and expensive to keep running. You&#;ve got to have a place to store them out of the weather. Is all this worth the effort and cost?

My experience says yes. Emphatically. Our life simplified exponentially when we invested in our tractor, and I don&#;t regret one penny I&#;ve put into it.

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Contact us to discuss your requirements of Best Tractor for Clearing Land. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

If you&#;re on the fence about buying a tractor for your acreage, here&#;s a few things to consider.

Moving straw for the pigs would be impractical without our loader

Will you raise animals on your land?

We raise pigs and chickens, and both require bulk food, bulk bedding and bulk cleanup. Having to move bales of hay by hand, especially in the winter, would be ludicrous, if not impossible on some days. And loading manure into a wheel barrow just stinks (literally lol).

Maybe you&#;re not thinking about getting animals right away. We weren&#;t planning on raising pigs, and then the opportunity fell into our lap. You never know what you might be open to in a year or so. But if you think there is a chance you might have animals in the future you&#;ll want to buy a tractor.

Forks on the loader are a necessary tool on our farm

Are there woods on your property?

Sure, you can cut and haul wood without a tractor. I&#;ve done it for years. But once you apply a tractor to the equation you&#;ll realize how much more productive you can be in less time. Whether its loading wood in a bucket, logs on forks or utilizing the PTO to run a chipper, a tractor is a must have to properly manage a wood lot of even moderate size.

The tiller makes work in the garden efficient, especially with stubborn soil

A copilot in the garden

We use a smaller tiller for most of our gardening needs, but sometimes its crucial to bring in the big guns. Our 72in tiller saves so much time in early spring when we need to prep some of the garden plots. Again, it&#;s about efficient use of time for us. It used to take me all day to prep a garden plot for planting, but with my tractor it literally takes a few minutes.

My rotary mower gets the most work from spring to winter

Got fields to mow?

Honestly, this might be the single most chore that has given my tractor it&#;s highest return on value. Managing the fields would be impossible without our rotary mower. We&#;ve worked hard at converting the mistreated fields from weeds to lush orchard grass. Timely mowing (keeping weeds from going to seed) and strategic tilling have been a big part of that plan.

Pumpkin harvest made simple with the loader bucket

All the things we don&#;t think about

When I was first considering a tractor, a couple coworkers tried talking me off the fence by reasoning that once I had a tractor I would find excuses to put it to use. I didn&#;t really understand what they meant, but I certainly do now.

It seems like every year I find new reasons to use the tractor. Whether its loading pumpkins, pulling tree stumps out of the ground, lifting heavy fencing, grading a driveway&#;or whatever might be the chore at hand&#;my tractor has become a coworker to me, giving me the ability to accomplish more things by myself that would otherwise require additional helping hands.

It may not be clear now how you will use a tractor, but if you have land I guarantee you will put it to use.

No matter the season there&#;s always something to do on the homestead

Tractors work hard every season

Seasons matter when it comes to managing your land. All four seasons. So you&#;ll want to invest in a tool that will be as practical and effective in during the winter months as it is in summer. Think mud, snow, rain and shine. A skid steer can do some of the things a tractor can do, but if you invest in the right horsepower tractor with the right attachments it will outshine a skid steer in its seasonal versatility any day.

Our oldest boy test driving the John Deere

What kind of tractor do you need?

Maybe you&#;re on the fence, but you&#;re not sure what kind of tractor you need. The decision comes down a few simple things: money, how much land you have to manage, and personal preference. But here&#;s a couple things that might help you decide which decision is right for you.

Things to know about buying new

• Often you can find zero percent interest and long term warranty
• Maintenance will be less money up front
• It&#;s easier to acquire the attachments you need (tiller, forks, etc)
• Upfront and total cost will be higher
• We find less stress in purchasing a new tractor

Things to know about buying used

• Lower purchase price &#; you can usually find a good deal
• Maintenance cost will be much higher
• Will require the skills to fix issues yourself or someone you can help
• Hidden costs &#; unseen wear parts, past abuse

My suggestion for the perfect acreage tractor

• Buy one size bigger than what you think you&#;ll need. Trust me, you&#;ll thank me if you do.
• Get a loader than can be quickly detached. Some of the smaller utility tractors have fixed loaders, and they can be a pain if you need to get to the engine.
• In addition to a loader (which is a must for any acreage), I strongly suggest getting a good utility bucket, forks and a tiller. If you&#;re buying new you can often add these to the financing (only an option for me if its 0%).
• 50-60hp is adequate for most basic acreage chores.
• Make sure the tractor has a live PTO and 4 wheel drive

Most little boys dream about driving a tractor

You can probably tell by now that I&#;m pretty convinced that a tractor is a necessary tool for any acreage or homestead. I&#;ve learned from experience and hard knocks, which seems to be true with just about anything I do.

Before we bought our John Deere , we bought a used Deere (love this tractor but was too big for basic homestead chores) and a used Ford Jubilee (too small). Both tractors served a purpose, but each tractor&#;s ability was too narrow for all of the needs I&#;ve described above when compared the abilities of the .

What&#;s the point? Before you go in, have a plan. Know what you need. And make the right investment the first time.

I know, I know, I know&#;tractors cost money and for many of us it&#;s a hard purchase to justify. My suggestion is to sit down an make a plan for your acreage (seriously, this is so important). Think about the things I&#;ve already mentioned, and think about other challenges you&#;ll face, or things you want to do, on the homestead. Does a tractor fit? Will buying a tractor save time, manpower, the need to hire outside help?

I suspect that a tractor will probably make sense once that plan starts taking shape.

Be well.

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